Scientist accuses NASA of covering up alien life – here’s the photo he points to as evidence

Barry DiGregorio, a researcher at Buckingham University, told Metro that "NASA has a long history of avoiding the life on Mars issue – ever since the Viking Landers in 1976.”

Earlier this year, DiGregorio said NASA found “stick-like figures” on Mars that resemble trace fossils found on Earth. Trace fossils are impressions that lifeforms leave behind, such as footprints, burrows or trails.

NASA tweeted the image of “stick-like figures” captured by the Curiosity River earlier this year with this tentative explanation: “Maybe they're crystals? Or they could be minerals that filled spaces where crystals dissolved away.”

Meanwhile, back on Mars... I’m checking out these stick-like figures. Each is about a quarter-inch long. Maybe they're crystals? Or they could be minerals that filled spaces where crystals dissolved away. Stay tuned! Science continues. pic.twitter.com/4oR70BVht3

"The order came down from NASA HQ that they should move the rover on to the next point,” he said. “They didn't feel it was important enough to look at, I thought that was very odd, despite the fact a gale crater was host to probably a series of lakes for billions and billions of years.”